to ask if you resent the shielded?

[BlackBucketOfCheese]

I have seen a lot of people saying on MN and across social media that they now resent giving up months of their lives “to protect the shielded” as they have put it.
And that those shielded should show gratitude.

Car accidents and knife crime don't pass from person to person. Covid does you can't compare a virus to accidents or murder. You can't put a virus in prison to stop it infecting people
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No but knife crime significantly dropped under lock down.
It’s actually a very interesting debate and I would say it’s a class issue rather than an old vs young debate. The lower classes are sacrificing for the middle and upper classes and no way would they do it in return.

@slartibarti

A few weeks ago there was a Woman's Hour episode on how younger people were coping with lockdown. One woman interviewed said she hoped older people appreciated the kindness of the younger generation in giving up so much to keep them safe. The presenter just accepted this without comment

Bet it was Jane Garvey.

I resent the situation.
I hate the effects it is having on the lives of everyone around us for what now isn't a massively widespread infection.
At the end of the day it is what is and we have to do what we have to do.

It would never occur to me to resent people that have a genuine need for protection.

I think it should be acknowledged how much young people have had to sacrifice, as proportionately, they have had to sacrifice the most when they are at the least risk. Their risk of significant harm from a virus increased by next to nothing, but they’ve had so much taken away. Nothing to do with shielding people though.

but acting like allowing a child out for an hour a day means they've had it better is really, really off the mark

I’ve not said better, I’ve simply explained that they aren’t shielding. They have an hour. I didn’t say that was right, you have extrapolated that.
Yes an hour a day only for a child is hard of course it is, the toll this will take on our children is very hard to measure.

A lot of people also forget that shielding people have children too.

All children across the country are making such a huge sacrifice.
My children haven’t left the property since 15/03, I’m not saying that is easier or worse than your children.

acting as if people daring to have cancer is directly to blame for your child's disruption during this time

This is the part that gets me.

Vulnerable people die can die from flu. Perhaps children should stop going to school entirely and till the end of time to protect them

One woman interviewed said she hoped older people appreciated the kindness of the younger generation in giving up so much to keep them safe.

I’m sure there was a thread with almost the exact title as that woman said. Something about younger people being paid for their sacrifice?

But people will still die from flu (I’ve nearly died from it twice) but now people also die from Covid at an alarming rate.

@formerbabe

Vulnerable people are offered the flu vaccine each year. The death rate for flu type illnesses is 10 times less than Covid, for which there is currently no vaccine.

Are you under the impression that a) the shielded ask you to shield or that b) that you were ask to curtail your life particularly for the shielded? Or are we c) just venting generally at this point? formerbabe

Goodness no.

I feel really sorry for people who can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

All summer inside and then it's winter and you should be careful of chest infections etc.

I do feel angry that the govt didn't take enough steps to protect vulnerable groups, especially older people.

If they had, we would nationally be in a much better position now.

Anyone out there who resents the shielded is a bloody idiot.

My whole street could break every rule going and it wouldn't affect the shielded since they don't leave there house. The shielded are protecting themselves. We are stopping the NHS being overwhelmed so they can have the capacity to treat people who need treated so we are protecting each other. You won't know how your body will cope with covid until you get it. I don't want to take that chance so I will protect myself and everybody else by following the guidelines. It's not forever

The sacrifice of the young generation - particularly those between 18 and 25 is totally underestimated. These are absolutely key years for getting on in life and now this generation’s future is decimated. They are disproportionately losing their jobs and their education for a virus which has pretty much zero risk to them. That age group has much higher risk of death from suicide than from covid. Economic studies show that those who come of age during a recession on average never recover.

I don’t resent the shielded but as a society and as parents we do have to realise that the burden of the lockdown falls disproportionately on those who are least likely to die. For a parent in their 30s spending time at home can give valuable family time, but it is completely unnatural for those in the 18-25 age group. They are generation covid and yes, I think all those at risk should recognise and appreciate their sacrifice.

A very selfish attitude and not one I have come across in real life, thankfully, quite the contrary in fact.

Also Covid-19 is completely novel - no one in the world had suffered from it back in October and it spreads at a much more rapid rate than other influenzas. So everyone was at risk of being exposed to a novel illness at the same time. Lots of the population are already immune to the flus that come around each year so that combined with the death rate being much lower than Covid means it’s less likely to totally cause a breakdown of the NHS.

Schools have and do close, albeit on an individual basis, for outbreaks of flu, norovirus and other illnesses. Or snow. Or burst water pipes. It’s just that those are easily fixed/cured/gone in a few days.

You seem to be ignoring the facts @formerbabe

Absolutely not. I feel very much for the shielded. They're stuck at home watching the rest of the world gently start going back to their lives. My Mum is seeing her friends be able to sit in their garden with their children and grandchildren, to go for walks with their friends. And she knows, with my DD going back to nursery this week, that it will be months before we could even consider seeing each other. So no, I would never resent protecting those who need it, whether they are young, old or somewhere in the middle.

It is a sign of society how we treat our weakest and most vulnerable. As a general rule we are not as good at that as I'd like use to be!

I do not resent the shielded. My grandmother is in that category, and I cannot resent anything that can save her life.
However the main reason for lockdown was to prevent the nhs getting overwhelmed during the height of the pandemic, so therefore the clinically vulnerable needed to stay at home to ensure that didn't happen.

@Eyewhisker

I’m a university tutor. My healthy students have been using this time to get paid work in supermarkets, care homes, as healthcare and relief admin staff in hospital, personal shoppers, dog walkers, food delivery, cover in schools for key worker’s children etc. I don’t get paid outside of teaching weeks (I have been teaching full time from home) and I will be getting another job even if it’s still in lockdown. It’s not true to say that all 18-25 year olds have lost income, plenty of places are crying out for staff and plenty of young people are answering that call. I graduated into the last recession and yes, initially my mental health was affected, but it made me more resilient.

None of my students resent having to stay at home when they aren’t working to protect the NHS.

Anyone who resents the shielded is unpleasant in my view.
Life is much worse for the shielded, who've not been outside since march, terrifying for parents of shielded children and not much fun for those of worried about older shielded relatives.
The lockdown was to protect the NHS and to stop vast numbers of people dying. Shielding is to protect the most vulnerable who can't really rely on society to protect them as shown by the crowds on beaches etc. They
There was no other way than lockin

Locking down to slow the spread of this as it was spreading like crazy in London at the time.

Namechange - you are being very naive. DH’s firm has switched from hiring to firing due to the virus. All those fired are the most recent joiners and job offers to graduates have been cancelled.

Millions of people will lose their job and they will disproportionately be the young. Maybe they can stack shelves in supermarket or pick fruit rather than train for careers.

Major employers are skipping a year for hiring and this year’s unemployed graduates will compete with next year’s graduates as well as the unemployed. The impact on generation covid is catastrophic and this absolutely should be recognised.

It is perfectly possible to feel sorry for the shielded who are understandably anxious but also to think that the young are making a huge sacrifice.

think all those at risk should recognise and appreciate their sacrifice.

How should I do that?

Millions of people will lose their job and they will disproportionately be the young. Maybe they can stack shelves in supermarket or pick fruit rather than train for careers.

But this isn’t my fault? It isn’t any person or group’s (apart from government) fault.
I graduated into the last recession with babies, I feel for them I really, really do. It is hideous.

But do you really think I should be doing what?? Paying them? Writing to them? Shouting from the roof tops? To show gratitude?

Can I get a reverse back to the people fucked the economy in 2008 and left my babies hungry for some gratitude?

I’ve said time and again that it’s hard for everyone. But now I have to fall to my knees and show gratitude?

I’m not exactly old and ready for my grave - and even those who are as legitimate as the youn.